Posts Tagged ‘internet’
NRF: Fewer Online Retailers Expect Sales Increase This Holiday Season
Friday, November 14th, 2008
Though the Internet will remain a popular destination for shoppers this holiday season, fewer retailers expect their sales to increase significantly, according to a recent survey.
The National Retail Federation found that the number of consumers shopping online – 44.2 percent – has remained almost flat since last year. In the meantime however, compared to 77.5 percent of retailers last year, only 56.1 percent of them expect holiday sales to increase by at least 15 percent.
In addition, the Internet will continue to influence an increasing number of holiday purchases – at least 33.6 percent this year, compared to 30.2 percent last year. But most consumers use it to research potential retail purchases, looking up store locations, gift ideas, and prices, according to the National Retail Federation.
To draw this year’s cost-conscious shoppers, most retailers – at least 78 percent – will offer free shipping with conditions at some point during the holiday season, despite rising transportation costs. More than 40 percent of them plan to compensate costs by renegotiating with shipping providers.
The D.C. trade group and Shopzilla released its study less than a week after comScore, an Internet research group, reported for the third fiscal quarter a mere 6 percent growth in online retail sales.
Tags: christina lee, comScore, internet, national retail federation, online retail, online retailers, Shopzilla
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Internet Sales Tax Looms for NY…Will It Catch On?
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
Interesting…very very interesting.
Do you think states should be allowed to levy a sales tax on online purchases?
Well according to a WebProNews.com post , New York is attempting to test those waters. Legislators are trying to pass a bill titled the "Amazon Tax" and are targeting online retailers who are not located in New York. The sales tax would be attached to any items shipped to the state. Proponents of the bill say it will help level the sales tax playing field for brick and mortar retailers and they estimate it will generate around $50 million in tax revenue for the state.
Opponents claim the tax is being introduced due to miscalculated spending and that this tax is being invented to compensate. Large companies such as Amazon have reviewed the bill and believe it will be challenged in court.
Thus far, the government has been reluctant to allow states to regulate internet transactions.
What do you think?
Tags: Amazon.com, government, internet, legislation, Rebecca Button, Sales, Tax
Posted in Blog | 1 Comment »
Consumers Wary of Customized Ads
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive and Dr. Alan F. Westin Professor of Public Law and Government Emeritus at Columbia University showed that the majority (59%) of U.S. adults are uncomfortable with customized ads directed at them based on their web surfing habits. It doesn’t really surprise me either.
After all, have you ever been reading your GMail and glanced over at the ads down the side and noticed that the ads have been determined by scanning the content in your email? I’ll admit that when I first noticed that going on, it weirded me out a bit. It made me feel as though someone must be looking at my private emails! Apparently I’m not alone.
The survey goes on to report that more people would be slightly more comfortable with the practice if they were presented with a privacy policy first but not by a huge margin. From a consumers standpoint it does tend to send up some privacy red flags.
But as an advertiser, this type of focused strategy is enormously beneficial. It makes sure that the ads are far more targeted on the individual which saves the time and money of both the advertising business and the consumer. However, if the uneasiness remains, don’t be surprised if you see some battles ensue.
The question for business owners and advertisers (also being consumers themselves) will be: which side of the fence will you come down on?
Tags: advertising, E-Commerce and E-Business, internet, Marketing, Marketing Your Business, privacy, Rebecca Button
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Oh So Textual! *Text Message Shopping Has Arrived*
Monday, April 7th, 2008
I remember the days when cell phones were exciting because they were cordless AND you could use them past your front porch without it crackling and buzzing you deaf. Then came the ringtones. And the cameras. And the text messages, email, internet, music and video. I can’t afford the latest and greatest (mine simply allows for phone calls and a few texts) but when they add a "Makes You Breakfast in Bed" feature I’ll seriously consider upgrading.
But as is, I, along with countless others, still possess the capability of participating in text shopping, the latest service offered by Amazon.com called TextBuyIt. Here’s how it works (courtesy detnews.com ):
"It lets people text the name of a product, its description or its UPC or ISBN to 262966 (that’s "Amazon" on the keypad) from anywhere their cell phones work — including from inside physical stores.
If Amazon stocks matching items, the service returns two results at a time. Shoppers can immediately buy one of the first two the selections by texting back the number "1" or "2," or they can ask for more by texting the letter "M."
New TextBuyIt customers will be prompted to enter the e-mail address associated with their existing Amazon account plus a shipping zip code. The service then calls them and walks through the checkout process using an automated voice system. Shoppers get confirmation by text message and e-mail.
From there, the customers can check on order status on Amazon’s Website."
First I just have to say that I think this is pretty awesome–as a consumer that is. I keep thinking that there is no way things can get easier and lo and behold, someone finds a way. I’m not so sure I would use this personally (remember, I’m too cheap to upgrade to a cooler cell phone so I’m not exactly a ’shopping on demand’ kind of person) but I do know that this service will likely be widely accepted by shoppers and replicated and perfected in different forms by Amazon’s top competitors.
So what kind of effect do you think this will have on brick and mortar stores? Or small businesses for that matter that do not possess the capabilities of offering such a service in order to compete with Amazon?
Tags: advertising, consumers, E-Commerce and E-Business, innovation, internet, Marketing, online shopping, Rebecca Button, shopping, technology, text messaging
Posted in Blog | 2 Comments »
The Online Shoppers Cometh - Are You Ready(eth?)
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
Well friends, it’s finally happened. People are now officially computer savvy. Or at least according to a 2007 Forrester Research report almost 75% of us have learned how to successfully shop online and the the number of late comers to the internet party continues to dwindle each year. That’s great news for online businesses! But it’s also a bit of a double edged sword.
These findings indicate that more and more people are getting familiar with navigating the internet and therefore learning how different websites hinder or facilitate their online shopping experiences. And guess what that means? It means that on the whole, people’s expectations are much higher–and growing alongside their experience.
So what does this mean for you? Well, quite simply it means that your emphasis on getting customers to your site should now be shifting to retaining customers. People are now quite comfortable with turning to the internet to get whatever products they need so you know that the traffic is there. You must now "wow" these customers with your quality of service and streamlined shopping experience. If customers think, even for a split second, that it’s too difficult to find what they’re looking for on your site, they’ll be out of there faster than you can blink.
So do yourself a favor and invest a little time and money into making your website stellar! Visit our Ecommerce and Ebusines Articles for more advice, tips and info!
Tags: E-Commerce and E-Business, etailers, internet, online, online shopping, Rebecca Button, shopping, tips
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10 Totally Free Blogging (among other things) Guides…Totally!
Friday, March 21st, 2008
There’s no question anymore as to whether or not blogging is beneficial to businesses–it IS. Wait. Allow me to rephrase…GOOD blogging is beneficial to businesses. If you run your blog poorly, it becomes a waste of your time as well as the time of your readers (dare I say customers ?) and no one likes to be inconvenienced, especially not consumers. I know, I know…nothing you don’t already know.
Well, if you have decided not to pursue blogging due to time, money and/or resource constraints then I suppose you needn’t read on. But if you do run a company blog and are looking to make it worth your while, by all means, check out these 10 completely free guides to building a better blog courtesy chrisg.com :
1. The Blogger’s Guide to SEO - Written by Aaron Wall of SEOBook, learn how to optimize your blog.
2. Remarkablogger’s How to Start A Business Blog - 12 Step Business Blogging eBook
3. "Attention Age" - Web 2.0 Marketing by Rich Schefren
4. Forget Everything You Know About Making Money Online - Brian Clark’s free ebook shows you how to forget everything you know about making money … and start making some.
5. Blog Profits Blueprint - ebook about how to make money with a blog.
6. SEO Benefits of Press Releases - optimizing your web page with good content.
7. Authority Black Book - Social Media Marketing ebook.
8. Deep Secrets of Successful Blogging - Chitika’s ebook…also links to the BlogBash ebook.
9. Keyword Research for Bloggers - the title says it all!
10. The 4 Phases of Internet Marketing - This report provides you an overview of all the tactics you should be looking at building into your internet marketing strategy.
Do you find these helpful? Let me know so I can either keep trying to find similar resources or move on to different ones. Also feel free too add your suggestions to the list!
Tags: Blog, blogging, E-Commerce and E-Business, free, guide, internet, Marketing, Rebecca Button, SEO, tips
Posted in News & Articles | 1 Comment »